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Gaza's Civil Defense: 100 Plus People Killed Since Deal Announced; Three Navalny Lawyers Sentenced for "Extremist" Activity; Confirmation Hearing for Trump's Homeland Security Secretary Pick; Trump Holds Phone Calls with Chinese President; Big Oil Welcomes Incoming Trump Administration. Aired 9-9:45a ET

Aired January 17, 2025 - 09:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[09:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JESSICA DEAN, CNN HOST, CONNECT THE WORLD: And that's the scene on Capitol Hill where South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem is in the hot seat for her

confirmation hearing as the next head of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. It's 09:00 a.m. there in Washington, D.C. It's 09:00 a.m. right

here in New York as well. I'm Jessica Dean, and this is "Connect the World".

Also coming up, Israel's full cabinet set to vote to approve the Gaza ceasefire agreement with Hamas will be live in Tel Aviv with details on

that. Then three lawyers for the late Russian Opposition Leader Alexei Navalny, were sentenced to years in a penal colony. Meantime, Russian

President Vladimir Putin and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian meet in Moscow. We're going to have report on their strategic partnership.

The stock market in New York will open in about 30 minutes from now. You see all the green there. We'll bring you opening bell when it happens a

little later this hour. In the meantime, the Israel-Hamas ceasefire agreement is moving closer to reality. Israel's full cabinet set to vote on

that deal after the security cabinet approved it about an hour ago.

Assuming the full cabinet does the same, fighting should end and the first hostages should be released beginning Sunday, this coming after the Israeli

Prime Minister's office and Hamas both signaled conditions for the deal had been met. Before that, a relentless barrage of Israeli air strikes in Gaza,

as health officials there report more than 100 people killed since the ceasefire was announced in Qatar late Wednesday.

More than half of them women and children. Jeremy Diamond is following the developments for us from Tel Aviv with more. Jeremy, what is the latest as

this is happening in real time?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the Israeli Security Cabinet, Jessica, has indeed voted to approve this ceasefire agreement that was

brokered two nights ago, announced by the United States, Egypt and Qatar, and now that agreement is on its way to the full Israeli cabinet for a

vote.

We expect that that meeting will be happening any moment now, and that by tonight, we will see the Israeli full cabinet approve this agreement. The

next stage of the process is for the Israeli Supreme Court to hear petitions against the release of those Palestinian prisoners set to be

released in exchange for those 33 Israeli hostages.

But we don't expect that to derail the process, meaning that by the time we get to Sunday, we are very likely going to be seeing the ceasefire take

effect, the first three Israeli hostages. We are told, three female civilians who are set to be released on Sunday as part of the first stage

of this agreement.

And then, of course, we will have six weeks of a ceasefire that are set to take place, six weeks during which time, without a doubt, we will see some

bumps in the road. We will see some uncertainty. And of course, we will see the release of hostages, the entry of much needed humanitarian aid into the

Gaza Strip.

And of course, we know that until that ceasefire agreement goes into effect on Sunday, we are still witnessing the war in Gaza very much continuing at

this point. And that is important to note, the tragedy of the fact that there are still people dying, even as we have this agreement now that has

been reached, but because it has yet to actually come into effect, the Israeli military is continuing to conduct air strikes inside of Gaza.

We are continuing to see people dying. More than 100 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli strikes over the course of the last day and a half since

this agreement was reached, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health. At least two dozen children are among the dead, according to that

same group.

So, we are witnessing these tragedies continuing, and they likely will continue up until the moment when the ceasefire comes into effect on

Sunday, Jessica.

DEAN: All right, Jeremy Diamond, with the very latest from Tel Aviv, thank you for that reporting. And as Jeremy mentioned, people in Gaza are

enduring another wave of intense Israeli bombing. Health officials there saying the majority of the more than 100 people killed since the ceasefire

announcement are women and children.

Israel's military claims it struck approximately 50 terror targets across the enclave. Jomana Karadsheh has more on this and a warning her report

contains graphic images that some viewers may find disturbing.

[09:05:00]

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Joy in relief with the announcement of a deal, finally, the moment they've been longing for. We

want to go back home. We just want to go back to school and learn, she says. This is the most amazing day, at least, that's what it seemed.

But the bombs didn't stop, shortly after the agreement was reached on Wednesday, another round of Israeli strikes. The military says it's still

going after Hamas targets. He brought those same horrific scenes the world has watched on repeat for 15 bloody months. The ceasefire is set to begin

on Sunday, and so many in Gaza fear the days before that will only bring more horror.

And when the guns do fall silent, if they do, it will be the start of a new, difficult and painful chapter for those who survived the bombs, the

bullets, the siege and starvation, as they begin to pick up the pieces of life left shattered beyond recognition, homes gone and loved ones who

didn't live to see this day.

I don't know how I'll go back to Gaza City to continue living without my children Ahmed (ph) says. I dreamt of the day of going back with them by my

side playing. They were gone in the blink of an eye. Hala (ph) was four, Ahmed (ph) two, killed in an Israeli strike in the first month of the war.

Two of nearly 18,000 Palestinian children killed. A ceasefire only means the killing will stop, their mother says. And she will finally have the

chance to grieve. Jomana Karadsheh, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DEAN: And while we wait for the Israel-Hamas ceasefire agreement to take effect, U.S. President Joe Biden and President-Elect Donald Trump appeared

to have different views on how the deal was brokered from the American side. Biden and his administration saying they worked in close coordination

with Trump's team in recent days, while Trump says the deal would have never happened if he had not been elected president, got involved.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: I told him what I was doing, what I thought could happen. But what we did, we brought in the

people, or going to be his national security people. We brought them in closer to tell them what was happening as we hand this off.

DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT AND CURRENT PRESIDENTIAL-ELECT: It was so ungracious of Biden to say, oh, he did it. He didn't do anything. If

I didn't do this, if we didn't get involved, the hostages would never be out. They would have never come out.

(BEENDGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: Let's go now to Capitol Hill, where President-Elect Trump's pick to lead the Department of Homeland Security is in the hot seat this hour for

her confirmation hearing. If South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem is confirmed, she will lead the agency overseeing border security.

According to two CNN sources right now, Trump's team is finalizing an aggressive slate of executive orders related to border security and

immigration that are expected to be released only hours after the President-Elect is sworn in on Monday. And all of this as Trump continues

to see some of the most positive ratings of his political career.

A new CNN survey finding 55 percent polled approve of his handling of the transition of power with the Biden Administration. CNN's Alayna Treene is

joining us now from West Palm Beach, Florida, with more on this. Alayna, let's back up for one second. Let's talk about Kristi Noem's confirmation

hearings. How is the Trump team anticipating that will go? What's their strategy for this?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN REPORTER: Well, look, they're very optimistic. Heading into today, they've actually been optimistic with all of the different

nominees who have appeared before the confirmation hearings. But Kristi Noem in particular, is someone that, so far, we've heard from all of her

meetings behind closed doors with both Republican and Democratic senators, pretty positive comments from those meetings.

Now, of course, they can anticipate, and you can anticipate that she is going to be grilled pretty hard, particularly by Democrats, on what Donald

Trump's immigration agenda is going to be, how that is going to be implemented, especially given that this has been such a top priority for

him, and also a lot of the sweeping changes that he has planned once he is in office.

Now, I think we have to note, of course, that many of those important decisions, a lot of the immigration policy is actually going to be coming

from the White House, not exactly DHS. Stephen Miller, who is Donald Trump's Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy, but also Tom Homan, who has

really been kind of tasked as Donald Trump's border czar.

They are really expected to be the power center for all of the big immigration decisions. However, of course, Kristi Noem, if she is

confirmed, and it's going to lead the Department of Homeland Security. She and her agency are going to be tasked with implementing all of this.

So, a lot of big questions that she will face today on that. And then I'd also note just, of course, behind the scenes as well, that she does have

some of a controversial past, particularly, you know, there was a lot of controversy over a book she released earlier this year where she detailed

shooting her dog.

[09:10:00]

Some questions of that could come up when I talked to Donald Trump's team, they said, you know, they're not totally sure what to expect on that front,

but they are confident that she will do well, and they believe that ultimately, after today, she will get the votes to be confirmed.

DEAN: And Alayna, obviously, immigration a huge part of Trump's campaign promises, what he talked about on the campaign trail, and we're learning

more about these executive orders he plans to put into place on Monday and just the hours after he's sworn in. What more can you tell us about that?

TREENE: Yeah, we have some great reporting this morning from our colleague, Priscilla Alvarez, who's really been across all of these big immigration

stories. Look, Donald Trump has made clear that once he is sworn in, and on inauguration day, he wants to release a slate of executive orders, not

hours, or excuse me, not days, but hours into being sworn in.

So, he has a lot planned for Monday, just hours after, if not moments after, he is sworn in to office on inauguration day. Now, really, these

executive orders fall into three different buckets. One of them, of course, is interior enforcement. We've learned that some of the executive orders he

has planned is looking specifically at some of the sweeps that he has previewed of major metropolitan areas.

But also, sanctuary cities, really trying to look at illegal immigrants and cracking down on that and starting to begin some of that mass deportation

process that he has talked about so extensively throughout his time on the campaign trail. Another bucket is the border.

Even though I would argue, and we know that the data shows that numbers for border crossings are actually down right now, they really want to do, you

know, a major and we're actually learning a national emergency declaration that would try to free up some resources from the Pentagon to be put toward

the border.

We know that he wants to build the border while he wants to roll back some of the regulations and issues that President Biden had put or had done when

he first came into office, to kind of roll back what Donald Trump did. He now wants to roll back again what Biden has done.

So, we're going to see some of that in some of these early executive orders as well. And then the third bucket is really legal immigration. Donald

Trump has talked about wanting to reinstate a travel ban, something that he did during his first term. Still unclear exactly which countries and

migrants might fall into that, but that is one area that they are looking at.

As well as what we know, he's also talked about extensively, which is ending birthright citizen. We've learned as well that is a major priority

for him during his first few days in office, Jessica.

DEAN: All right. More to come on this in just a few short days. Alayna Treene in Florida for us, thank you so much for that. Let's connect you now

to Russia. Human rights activists are denouncing the sentencing of three lawyers there for the late Opposition Activist Alexei Navalny.

The men have been found guilty of belonging to an extremist group, and each have been sentenced to between 3.5 and 5.5 years in a Russian penal colony.

That trial was held behind closed doors, as you may remember, Navalny died in an Arctic penal colony about a year ago.

He had been convicted of extremism and other charges, all of which he denied. Sebastian Shukla is following the story from Berlin. And Sebastian,

talk us through the nature of the charges in this case worth noting, as we pointed out this happened behind closed doors.

SEBASTIAN SHUKLA, CNN PRODUCER: Yeah. Jessica, the persecution of Alexei Navalny and all of those associated with him continues unabated, as you

say, as we approach the one-year anniversary of his death in that Arctic penal colony, which still, if you ask the Anti-Corruption Foundation, his

group that he led still remains somewhat mysterious to them.

What this trial has pertained to is related to extremism charges. And the three lawyers, Vadim Kobzev, Igor Sergunin, and Alexei Liptser, have been

charged as supporting an extremist organization. What they have, the specifics in it, is that they have used their status, the court said, to

pass letters written by Alexei Navalny to the outside world, which basically meant that he continued to act as a head of this extremist

organization.

The Anti-Corruption Foundation is well known, particularly within Russia, for being a leading expose, investigative outlet that has shone a light on

the corruption at the highest levels of the Russian government, including a very slickly or multiple slickly produced videos.

But one in particular, which purports to be a palace built by President Putin on Russia's coast, in the Coastal City of Sochi. So -- but what we're

seeing here is that continued effort to discredit his name and anything connected with him on anybody connected with him.

The organization, though, FBK and Yulia Navalnaya have said that they think that this isn't a court that's been playing, particularly by the rules. At

the end of last year, videos were leaked from inside that prison, which show the meetings between Navalny and his lawyers being recorded secretly

on CCTV.

[09:15:00]

That is a sanctity which cannot be broken and should not be broken in any legal format in any country, because those meetings should be remain secret

and between client and lawyers in this instance. So, what we're seeing Jessica is, even though Navalny has been dead coming up to a year now.

His death the 16th of February 2024, is that the Russian state is continuing to dismantle anything that is connected to Alexei Navalny and go

after anybody who even had any interactions with him, big or small.

DEAN: All right, Sebastian, thank you so much for that reporting. We really appreciate it. Meantime, the Presidents of Russia and Iran, Moscow's main

drone supplier, meeting in Moscow. The two countries are expected to further close their ranks by signing a comprehensive partnership agreement.

As Clare Sebastian reports, Russia is already reaping huge benefits from its friendship with Tehran.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This was March last year, then six months later, satellite images revealing breakneck expansion at a

drone factory in Southern Russia. A facility set up two years ago to produce Iranian designed Shahed attack drones.

JON ALTERMAN, DIRECTOR OF MIDDLE EAST PROGRAM, CSIS: Building a drone factory in Russia for the Russians was an almost unimaginable, step

forward, both for the Iranians and for the Russians. This admission from the Russians that they need that kind of help, the willingness of the

Iranians to do that kind of overseas expansion.

SEBASTIAN (voice-over): That deal with Iran has shaped Russia's attritional war. A CNN investigation from December found production rates at the

factory in Tatarstan more than doubled last year. Russia has stepped up attacks over 11,000 Shahed or Shahed-type drones were fired at Ukraine last

year, according to a CNN tally.

That's more than four times the previous year's total. Iran has consistently denied providing weapons for Russia's war, and yet, by the

time Putin and Iran's new President Masoud Pezeshkian met in October, there was talk of something even deadlier.

ANTONY BLINKEN, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: The provision by Iran of ballistic missiles to Russia for use in Ukraine.

SEBASTIAN (voice-over): This Russian cargo ship suspected by the U.S. of transporting those ballistic missiles across the Caspian Sea.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is definitely a significant escalation.

SEBASTIAN (voice-over): Though no evidence has yet emerged of their alleged deployment. The revelation helped persuade Ukraine's allies to let Kyiv use

Western long-range missiles on Russian soil. The incoming Trump Administration wants to engage with Russia.

TRUMP: President Putin wants to meet. He's said that even publicly.

SEBASTIAN (voice-over): While at the same time cracking down on Iran.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For the United States, a policy of maximum pressure must be reinstated.

ALTERMAN: I think there's a lot of wisdom in driving a wedge between Russia and Iran for all kinds of reasons. Whether the Trump Administration is

going to do that, I don't know.

SEBASTIAN: How dangerous has this partnership been, and could it be going forward when it comes to this war?

ALTERMAN: The Iranians certainly have some worrying capabilities. The Russians certainly have demonstrated a willingness to use worrying

capabilities. And so, it seems to me that the danger is quite real.

SEBASTIAN (voice-over): Clare Sebastian, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DEAN: Clare, thank you. Some Southern California residents are returning to their communities to see what's left of their homes after those devastating

wildfires. Ahead the story of one couple whose home escaped the fires only to fall victim to another natural disaster.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:20:00]

DEAN: New just into CNN, we're going to go to Capitol Hill, where Donald Trump's pick for Homeland Security Secretary is speaking at her

confirmation hearing. Let's listen in to Governor Kristi Noem.

GOV. KRISTIE NOEM (R-SD): -- process and given me much wisdom, as well as insight into the thoughts and the procedures of the Senate in this body.

And I'd also like to express my gratitude to Senator Thune, the majority leader of this esteemed body.

He's been an advisor to me for many years, as well as a friend, and I'm so grateful for the generous support of these two men and their willingness to

be here this morning to speak on my behalf and to introduce me to this committee. Now I'm a wife and a mother and a grandmother, a farmer,

rancher, business person.

I've served in our state legislature, in Congress for eight years, and also a governor. I've spent my entire life in rural America. I understand what

it means to work hard every single day and to build a better future for your kids and for all of our communities. I come before you today with a

deep sense of responsibility and a humility as the nominee to lead the Department of Homeland Security.

And also, a commitment to the more than 330 Americans who we will work together to help serve and to keep safe and secure in their homes and in

their communities. Now before I proceed, I want to introduce to you my husband, Bryon, who's here with me today. He is my constant 24/7 reminder

of our dedication to public service and that it's not a solo effort or done alone.

He has been a rock by my side, and I appreciate all of his love over so many years. I'm grateful that he's here with me today. Now, securing our

homeland is a serious, sacred trust that must be relentlessly pursued and can never be taken for granted. Being safe within our borders here in

America is critical, and yet, Americans feel less safe than they have felt in decades.

For the first time in 30 years, more than 40 percent of Americans are afraid to walk alone at night within a mile of their homes. President-Elect

Trump is going to change that. I've seen firsthand the challenges and the opportunities facing our great nation in the 20 years since the Department

of Homeland Security was formed, the nature of the threats to our homeland has grown and they've evolved.

This department was created in response to the failures of the government that led to the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. And that reality is

not lost on me, especially in the wake of the recent terrorist attacks over New Years. Now I've led South Dakota for the last six years with a focus

every day on making our state safer, stronger and freer.

I focused every day on making the best decisions, not just for right now, but for generations to come. I've overseen a state budget of over $7

billion and a state employee workforce of more than 13,000 including more than 7000 that report directly to the governor. I've addressed important

issues like cyber security, human trafficking, drug interdiction and also natural disasters.

The same challenges that are facing so many of you and the people that you represent back home. I've secured our state and supported the rule of law,

and if confirmed as the eighth secretary, that is the same approach that I will take to leading the Department of Homeland Security.

As we face the evolving threats of the 21st century, the mission and the success of DHS is more critical than ever. We must be vigilant and

proactive and innovative to protect the homeland. The challenges in front of us are extremely significant, and we must secure our borders against

illegal trafficking and immigration.

We must safeguard our critical infrastructure to make sure that we're protected against cyber-attacks, respond to natural disasters and also

terrorism. I firmly believe that we can meet those challenges, head on with resolve innovation. We can use collaboration with federal and with state

partners. And Senators, I want your input.

Border security must remain a top priority. As a nation we have the right and the responsibility to secure our borders against those who would do us

harm, and we must create a fair and a lawful immigration system that is efficient and is effective and that reflects our values.

President Trump was elected with a clear mandate. He needs to achieve this mission because two thirds of Americans support his immigration and border

policies, including the majority of Hispanic Americans.

[09:25:00]

I was the first governor to send National Guard troops to our southern border when Texas asked for help and when they were being overwhelmed by an

unprecedented border crisis. If confirmed as secretary, I'll ensure that our exceptional, extraordinary Border Patrol agents have all the tools and

resources and support that they need to carry out their mission effectively.

The same is true of my commitment to the outstanding men and women of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. They are responsible for

apprehending, detaining and deporting illegal immigrants and getting criminal aliens off of our streets and out of the country.

Will help American communities be safer again, the bravery and the dedication of the Border Patrol and ice are unmatched, and I will restore

dignity to their work. The rising threat of cyber-attacks also demands our utmost attention, and our critical infrastructure, from energy grids to

financial institutions, is under constant attack by foreign adversaries and criminal actors.

As secretary, I will prioritize a comprehensive whole of government approach to cyber security. In fact, in the coming days, we have to plan

bigger and think faster and smarter. I fully acknowledge that people in Washington, D.C. do not have all of the answers, and therefore I will

leverage private-public partnerships.

I will advance cutting edge state of the art technologies to protect our nation's digital landscape. And I will have a proven track record of doing

this in South Dakota to back me up. I've helped make Dakota State University a global leader in cyber security education, because we

recognize the need to address this merging threat.

And I will take a proactive approach, if given the opportunity to serve as secretary. Now President-Elect Trump has been a tremendous friend to law

enforcement over the years, and I will do the same in my role as secretary. As governor, I've worked closely with law enforcement to make South Dakota

safer.

I've overseen hundreds of state troopers in the South Dakota highway patrol, and on several occasions, I've convened groups of law enforcement

from across our state to address policies that will make our people safer. In fact, while some in this country were attacking law enforcement and

defunding them, we took the opposite approach in South Dakota.

We recruited law enforcement officers to move to South Dakota, a state that respects their service and their sacrifice. And we revamped our law

enforcement training to provide the first ever State-led, tribal focused Law Enforcement Training Academy. I'm very proud of the work that we done

in co-operation with our tribes to help make their communities safer.

And we must remain vigilant against terrorism and against others who wish to do us harm to our country and to our great people, I'll ensure that our

intelligence and our law enforcement agencies are working together hand in hand, that they're fully equipped to detect, prevent and respond to threats

from radical ideologies and foreign adversaries.

This requires resources, coordination and collaboration across all levels of government. And once again, I will seek your wisdom, and I will seek

your input into the months ahead. For the sake of the people that we both represent, we have to get this right. Now I recognize that Homeland

Security isn't just about prevention, but it's also about resilience.

When disasters strike, as we know they will, the Department of Homeland Security must be ready to respond swiftly, efficiently and effectively, to

protect the lives and the property of Americans. As governor, I have worked with FEMA in response to a dozen natural disasters in South Dakota.

These have included historic floods, tornadoes, blizzards, wildfires, a derecho and even a global pandemic. As secretary, I will enhance our

emergency preparedness and strengthen FEMA's capabilities. And we will ensure that no community is left behind, and that lifesaving services like

electricity and water are quickly restored.

As secretary, I will oversee the Secret Service, an agency that is in serious need of reforms. We all saw the threats to President-Elect Trump

last year, and the consequences of failure. Now, that should never happen again. And I worked closely with my own gubernatorial protective detail.

And I'm familiar with what works and what doesn't work. And I'll bring that experience towards strengthening the Secret Service once again. I'm

committed to working with this committee, with Congress and with the dedicated men and women of the Department of Homeland Security to fulfill

our mission.

And together, we can ensure that the United States remains a beacon of freedom, safety and security for generations to come. So, thank you for the

opportunity and the honor to appear before you today. Thank you for the meetings and the time that you took in your office to discuss the

department and what we can do in the future to make the American homeland much more secure.

[09:30:00]

I look forward to your questions, and I hope to earn your trust and hopefully also your vote, as we embark on this critical work together. With

that, Mr. Chairman, I yield back.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you, Governor --

DEAN: And you're listening there to South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem, who is undergoing her confirmation hearing right now to be the Secretary of

Homeland Security. Of course, that is the agency that oversees immigration in the United States. She talked about her experience as an executive and

also really made took great pains to be deferential to the Senate and to really seek their input and talk about that.

This as we know now, new reporting from CNN that executive orders will be going into place on immigration on day one, when President Trump goes into

office on Monday. So, a lot more to come as Kristi Noem continues her confirmation hearing there on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. today. We're

going to continue to monitor that. We're going to take a quick break. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DEAN: This is news just into CNN, U.S. President-Elect Donald Trump has held a phone call with the Chinese president. This is according to Chinese

state media. Exact details about the conversation have not immediately been made available, but the news follows confirmation the Chinese Vice

President will attend Trump's inauguration on behalf of Xi Jinping.

CNN has reached out to Trump's team for comment on this. In the meantime, CNN's Marc Stewart is joining us now from Beijing. Marc, what more are you

learning about this phone call just a few days from Trump's inauguration?

MARC STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Jessica. Good to see you. Look this is significant, because this is the first time China has confirmed

that a phone call between these two world leaders has taken place since President-Elect Trump made victory, won the election back in early

November.

We have heard from the Trump camp that communication has taken place, but this is the first time that China has actually acknowledged a phone call,

and it appears to be something that it's quite proud of, in the sense that it's being blasted across state media very late on a Friday night.

In fact, we got the news just after nine o'clock this evening, Friday night here in China. It comes as you mentioned, that the Vice President of China,

Han Zheng, is going to be making an appearance, will be attending the inauguration.

[09:35:00]

The first time that a Chinese Head of State has gone to a presidential inauguration. So, there's obviously this message that China is trying to

send to the United States that it wants to have some kind of communication. There are so many different issues that this new administration is going to

have to tackle.

You know, in the next 30 minutes or so, we could get a decision from the Supreme Court concerning TikTok. And then there's also this concern,

especially on the Chinese side, that we're going to see more tariffs implemented by the United States government.

And even though, President-Elect Trump has not been in office, and we just learned about this communication, even some recent visits between President

Xi and President Biden have had symbolic wording to almost an extend a branch to the Trump Administration, saying that they want a win, win

cooperation.

They want a mutually agreeable relationship when this next administration takes place. So, it is very bold for us to hear from China, as you

mentioned, three days before the election, as the world's second largest economy prepares for the incoming Trump Administration here in China.

Jessica will perhaps get some more lines as the evening moves forward here, but that's what we know so far.

DEAN: Yeah, the top lines right now. All right. Marc Stewart, with the latest. Thank you very much for that. We're going to have more news for you

after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DEAN: And welcome back to you. There is excitement in the oil industry over Donald Trump's drill, baby, drill philosophy. CNN's Matt Egan says oil

lobbyists are figuring out how to dismantle regulation. He writes quote the shifting fortunes of Big Oil and clean energy underscore how the change in

power in Washington could have a lasting and significant impact on the broader energy landscape.

And Matt joins us now live from New York. Matt, how is Big Oil really celebrating? It seems like the return of Trump.

MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER: Well, Jessica, there's a real sense of relief in the oil industry, because, yes, this election does mean a return of

President-Elect Trump's drill, baby, drill philosophy. That means for Big Oil a lot more support for them and a lot less red tape.

Oil lobbyists do already have a wish list of regulatory actions that they're seeking from the incoming administration, everything from fewer

environmental rules on cars to permitting reform new offshore leasing program and lifting the export pause on liquefied natural gas.

But perhaps more than relief over what Trump can do. There is also a lot of relief over what's not going to come to pass over what the Harris

Administration could have done had Vice President Harris won this election. Veteran Analyst Bob McNally, he told me that a knife heading toward the

throat of the industry has been kicked away.

[09:40:00]

Now we can debate just how much regulation is really hurting the oil industry or how much it would have under Harris. Still, though, there's no

doubt that the oil industry has come away as a winner from this election, but I do think we need to kind of tap the brakes on this idea that just

because Trump is in the White House.

We're going to see oil production skyrocket or gas prices plunge. It's not really up to the president, right? That's up to the free market. And

there's a poll of oil and gas executives from the Dallas Fed, and they found that only 14 percent of executives are planning to increase spending

in 2025.

So yes, Trump may want to see gas prices go to $2 a gallon. But Big Oil does not want to see that, right? They're focused on returning cash to

shareholders, and they're going to be disciplined. They don't want to oversupply this market, Jessica.

DEAN: And Matt, what about clean energy? What could the impact be for that industry?

EGAN: Yeah, the mood is much darker in clean energy, because Trump, of course, has promised to roll back support for clean energy. He's even

threatened to ban new windmill construction in the United States. He claimed that windmills are killing whales, even though the federal

government says there's no scientific evidence to back that up.

Now, analysts are skeptical that Trump could actually prevent new wind turbine construction, especially on private lands, still Bloomberg

dramatically scaled back their forecast for U.S. wind capacity, offshore wind capacity through 2025, cutting it by almost 30 percent after Trump won

the election.

Wind executives I talked to, they are concerned about this change in power in Washington. One thing I do, think we need to note, though, is that clean

energy investment, I mean, there's been bipartisan dividends that have been paid. Some of the biggest states for wind power, for example, are red

states like Texas and Oklahoma.

Researchers found that when you look at what states benefited the most from clean energy investments on a -- per GDP basis, on a relative basis. There

are some states that Trump won, including Nevada, Wyoming, Kentucky and Georgia.

And so, I think we got to wait and see Jessica, how much this campaign rhetoric, which was pretty tough around clean energy shifts when it comes

to governing, because really, clean energy is something that has benefited voters and workers in red states, purple states and blue states.

DEAN: Yeah. All right. Matt Egan with the latest for us, thank you so much for that.

EGAN: Thanks Jessica.

DEAN: That is going to do it for this hour of "Connect the World". "World Sport" is up next. And I'll be back at the top of the hour with much more

news for you.

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